Page 66 of Explosive Prejudice

“Would you be quiet?” He grunted as we stopped before the door, and he pulled out a key chain from his pocket.

“Has anyone ever told you how rude you are?”

He ignored me, unlocked the door, and walked inside the apartment. Crossing my arms over my chest, I huffed. Ready to tell him what an asshole he was and that I’d rather drown in the ocean than spend another minute with him, I barged in. Yet, before I could open my mouth and say a word, we were greeted by his friend.

“Didn’t know you were stopping by.”

Oh, shit.

“Yeah, it was sort of a last-minute call,” Diesel said, scratching the back of his head.

His friend had dark blond hair that was almost as long as mine and wore a stupidly big smile as he made small talk with Diesel. I instantly recognized him as the one I’d run into when Jordan and I broke into the house Diesel lived in a few months ago. We were seconds away from getting caught, so without thinking twice, I faced him and lied my way to earn his trust.

Standing behind Diesel like a complete idiot, I had the tiniest shred of hope that this man, Kai, might not remember me. Unfortunately, recognition crossed his face the second our eyes met.

“Hey,” he said, his smile growing even bigger. “What a surprise seeing you again. How are you?”

Diesel’s eyes snapped to mine, his brows pinched close, and his forehead creased, obviously trying to figure out how we knew each other. Pushing his reaction aside, I stepped forward. “I’m good. Kai, right?”

“Yeah.” He hooked his thumbs in his jeans pocket. “You still haven’t visited my restaurant.”

Rubbing the back of my head, I glanced at the floor, feeling Diesel’s deadly stare digging into me. “Yeah… been busy.”

“Well, I had no idea you two were also friends.”

“Can we stay here tonight?” Diesel asked, ignoring Kai’s comments.

Darting his eyes between us, Kai nodded and grabbed his keys from the counter. “Yeah, sure. I was going to spend the night with Ash anyway. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Kai was almost out of the door when Diesel called after him.

“What is it, man?” Kai asked.

“Can you not tell Chief about this?”

Kai’s eyes darted to me before returning to Diesel, a sympathetic look on his face. “Yeah, of course.” The corner of his mouth curved into a naughty smile. “Whatever you do, don’t do it in my kitchen.”

I would have laughed, but as soon as the door closed behind Kai and we were left alone, Diesel charged at me, slamming me against the wall.

“Do I want to know how you two know each other?”

“Depends.” I smiled. “How angry are you from one to ten?”

From the way his nostrils flared, I’d go with ten.

“Speak.”

Playing with my fingers, I shrugged. “To be fair, you already know I’m crazy—”

“Shay-Lee.”

“Okay, okay.” Pursing my lips together, I tried to think of a way to tell him how I broke into their house without making it sound too bad. Turns out, there was no way of doing that.

“You broke into our house?” he snapped once I had finished telling him the story in a roundabout way.

“You make it sound way worse than it actually was.”

Tilting his head, he frowned. “The fuck are you on about? You broke into our house. Who the fuck does that?” He stepped back so I was no longer caged between him and the wall.

---